Smooth Sailing

Things have been sailing along on an even keel for awhile now – though we are never sure if on the right course.

Andrew’s vocabulary is increasing rapidly. Though he still seems to be frustrated by his lack of ability to effectively communicate, witnessed by continued and frequent crying bouts (short, but loud) when things don’t immediately happen as he envisions them. Of course, that can also apply to us too at times.

Andrew can clearly say Bethany’s name now. It’s cute how he says it, with each syllable enunciated. They both know their whole names now – first, middle and last.

Bethany seems to have trouble with terms of endearment. We'll call her "dear" and she responds, with some affront, "I'm not a deer." Same with "baby".

We took a trip to the PBS television station where we volunteered (pre-kids). They had a few of Andrew and Bethany's favorite characters visiting, including Elmo and Super Why. While there, they got to try being an on-air broadcaster and a camera operator.

Andrew has now picked up on Bethany's "happy" word. He says it a lot, mostly when he's eating. Then he goes around saying, "Bethany happy", "Angie happy", "Mommy happy" and "Daddy happy". Unlike Bethany who seemed to say "I happy" when she'd done something wrong as a way of distracting us, when Andrew says it, he usually is!

It's odd but, we still get questions about their transition from Russia. Just the other day someone asked, “Are they picking up English now?” More likely someone will ask something about adapting to American culture. It's a little wakeup call each time we hear it, that many who don’t see the kids regularly, think of them as Russian kids. When you see them regularly, you forget they were ever Russian. They just seem the same as any other kids their age – the good the bad, and our favorite, the ugly.

Pony ride after the Scottsdale Parada del Sol parade.

We went through a rough backslide on the potty training with Bethany a few weeks back, but have been in a hopeful stage again.

Had a parent/teacher conference at the daycare – I should say "learning center". It was little strange, as we met in their classrooms while all the kids were napping around us. Both appear on track, no red flags.

We stopped Bethany's phonics lessons last month after coming to the realization that we started that too soon for significant benefit. Same with the Stretch and Grow sessions, also at the daycare. We are thinking that after the fourth birthday would be good time to start into the extra curricular stuff when their focus is a little better.

Our neighbors invited us to breakfast at the airport where they park their plane. The kids got to watch planes take off and land, and even got to climb into the neighbor's plane. They loved it!

We put our house up for sale in January. Oh my, Yes, we did need the extra stress; thank you for asking.

Have had a lot of lookers, but only one offer. That buyer couldn’t swing the financing in this tight mortgage market. Gets depressing at times, because we really like our house and location, and think others should too. We will miss this place, but need to position ourselves now for the more room we think we will need as the kids grow.

It’s hard to plan without knowing if and when we will be moving. We’ve found a few houses that we like, but need to wait until our home is under contract before making any more offers. We tried once to place an offer contingent on the sale of ours, but their counter offer wasn't agreeable to us. That house is still available and still our first choice so far, but may not be available much longer.

Much of our free time has been spent staging our house for sale. Decluttering, simplifying, fixing and cleaning. We have one room at Laura’s filled with our boxes and non-essential furniture. It was nice of her to offer; saved us the storage rental cost.

We are constantly straightening, cleaning and laundering, so that the house looks its best all day, every day. Never know when we will get a call from an agent who wants to show the place. We have had to wake the kids up from a nap more that once, or more often the case, just delay getting home for a nap while some prospective buyer drops by.

Another visit to Scottsdale's McCormick Ranch Park train. They have very popular 15" and 7.5" guage railroads. This time they rode (sans parents) in the cattle car.

Andrew and Bethany like the house hunting; especially when Gayle’s realtor/friend brings along her daughter. They have the most fun in the two story houses, where they can play on the stairs. But then, Andrew fell down the stairs twice, so that's been a concern. We prefer one story, but many of the houses most closely matching our search have been two.

Both are now riding their trikes very well and are taking rides around the neighborhood, instead of just walks. Their skills were perfected by riding around inside the house; mostly the loop through the kitchen, family room, entryway and dining room – round and round. Sometimes after dinner they take the same circuit, but run it instead. Great fun!

Here's a clip from one of their trips to a gym.